Implement for washing clothes.



. EDWARDS BMPLEMENT FOR WASHING CLOTHES.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 16, 191,5.

Rm 1 9 1 nu 00 y a M Au 6 t H 6 t a D1 ATE %TATE% ATENT ALBERT EDWARDS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPLEMENT FOR WASHING CLOTHES.

Application filed July 16, 1915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALBERT EnwAnDs, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Brooklyn, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Implements for Washing Clothes, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to devices for washing clothes, and has for some of its objects to provide such a device which can be easily and cheaply manufactured, which shall be simple in construction and effective in operation, and which can be easily operated.

The invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and combination of elements and parts, as shown in the accom panying drawings and fully described in this specification.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of my invention; Fig. 2 is an end view on an enlarged scale, as seen from the left of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a section of a portion of my invention, taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2 and on the same scale.

Tn carrying my invention into efi'ect in the embodiment which I have selected for illustration in the accompanying drawings and description in this specification, I provide a suitable handle 11, preferably of waterproof material, or of wood or the like suitably coated. Attached to one end of this handle is a member 12, of soft rubber or some other flexible and elastic substance, which is normally of the shape shown (in side view) in Fig. 1, that is, somewhat resembling a cone or pyramid, with an open base, and the handle 11 extending from the apex. It is preferable, although not absolutely essential, that this member have a polygonal cross-section, as shown, for instance in Fig. 2, for a purpose to be hereinafter set forth.

The member 12 is reinforced, near the point of attachment of the handle 11, with a number of internal ribs 13, as shown in Fig. 2. The member 12 is also provided with a number of projections 1A and 15 at various points on its inner surface, and it will be seen by reference to Fig. 3, that some of these knobs or projections are longer than others.

In operation the device is repeatedly Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented'llliay 309, 1916..

Serial No. 40,258.

forced downward to its full extent in the tub or other receptacle containing clothes to be washed. The manner in which it performs its function will now be described. At the beginning of each downward stroke, the member 12 is full of water, and lightly resting upon the clothes in the tub. As it is forced downward, the first effect is to compress the clothes immediately thereunder and to force through the said clothes the water inside the member 12. As the downward stroke is continued, the member 12 fiattens out upon the clothes, the knobs 1A and 15 rubbing against them as they move outward in a direction approximately at right angles to the movement of the handle 11. The member 12 continues to be flattened out as far as the ribs 13 will permit, and at the end of the downward stroke turns partially inside out. It will be observed that by providing a member 12 shaped as shown in the drawings, this flattening movement is greatly facilitated, as in order to produce a fiat surface from this member 12 it is only necessary to flatten out the various folds, (which I have designated 16.)

As the member 12 is flattened out and moves over the clothes, the knobs 14 and 15, as stated above, rub against them. The longer knobs, designated 15, are bent inward by the friction of the clothes, so that they are dragged over the clothes by the outward movement of the member 12. Upon the end of the downward stroke, and the commencement of the upward one, the pressure on the member 12 is released, and it tends to reassume its former shape, as rapidly as the upward movement of the handle will permit. The inwardly bent knobs 15 then act as hooks, dragging the clothes into the in terior of the member 12, and, when the upward stroke is continued, pulling them upward and dragging them over other clothes for a short distance before they drop free from the member 12. In the course of the upward stroke, a certain amount of water is sucked through the clothes into the interior of the member 12, and at the end of said stroke the member 12 is again full of water.

The advantages of my invention will be obvious from what has been above set forth with regard to its construction and mode of operation. It will be seen that the simple up and down movement of the handle 11 is I clothes in the tub.

v Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new and desire-to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1..A device of the character described coinprising a hollow flexible member adapted'to bespread out when pressure is applied thereto, and provided with internally projecting studs adapted to exert sidewise friction assaid member is spread out.

" '2; A-device of the character described.

comprising a hollow flexible member adapted t'o bespread out when pressure is applied thereto,"a'nd provided with internally. projecting studs, some of said studs being of different length from others; said studs being adapted to exert sidewise friction as Oopielot thin. patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. 0.

said member is spread out, and certain of said studs being adapted to act as hooks as said member resumes its normal position.

3. A device of the character described comprising a hollow flexible member havin a polygonal cross section and an apex, and adapted to be spread out by pressure upon said apex.

4. A device of the character described comprising a hollow flexible member having a polygonal cross section and an apex, provided with internal reinforcing means and with internally projecting studs, and adapted to be flattened out by pressure upon said apex.

In witness whereof I have hereunto my name this 14th day of July 1915.

ALBERT EDWARDS.

Commissioner or Patenti signed 

